Lets take a look now at our SATA 2 SSD hierarchy as determined by PCMark Vantage HDD Total Points. Only 3 mSATA SSDs have been tested and all are highlighted:

mSATAS FUTURE

Although the mSATA SSD is still the new kid on the block, its size alone brings forward a whole new outlook with respect to portable computing. The Samsung Series 9 is the first ultra portable laptop available with strictly mSATA SSD options and ASUS will be soon to follow suit. With new laptops containing Intels Sandy Bridge chipset processors, sooner than later we will also see SATA 3 become a standard in ultra portables as companies such as Runcore have already announced their soon to be released 6Gbps mSATA ssd. Coincidentally, our first glimpse of the SF-2281 equipped mPCIE/mSATA design was in the SandForce suite at Computex and then on the show floor as one of the A-Data engineers pulled one out of his pocket for a brief moment. He smiled as we asked to take a picture of it.

OUR VERDICT

The Renice mSATA 120GB SSD has pulled through as, not only the top mSATA SSD we have tested to date but also, it has shown that it can stand amongst the best SSDs despite its size. We never expected its mind boggling performance score of 42474 to easily surpass full size SSDs such as the Samsung 470 series which, not so long ago, was the reigning leader in performance. Some may frown at the $309 price tag but its simply a value for capacity trade.

They could not have offered 120GB capacity without the use of premium 32GB 34nm NAND flash memory. In the end, I wish I still had my hands on a Samsung Series 9 just to throw the Renice x3 in for the upgrade in performance.

Once again, we would like to thank B2CIT.Com for their contact, suggestion of a review and sample and a quick click on the name can bring you to their product page. As for the Renice X3 SSD, it is awarded our Editors Choice given respect to its form factor and amazing performance.